114 COMMENTS

Certainly the best second half of another team than Munich at their home ground for some months. Wenger did not seem very amused, though. He just fooled a reporter on German television by answering (German) questions in English, even though he is known to speak the latter LESS fluently. Pretty akward moment, when two people talk with each other in two different languages.
But then again, we know that Wenger just loves making fun of the media.

We’re not getting Cavani, Falcao, or Suarez since others will offer him more money. Benzema looks invigorated and will probably not be sold now (but if Real get Suarez you never know). I personally wouldn’t want Balotelli on the team.

Unless I didn’t completely miss someone, that leaves us with Christian Benteke and Loic Remy. I would be happy with either one, but personally I would prefer Benteke since he is younger and is an Arsenal fan.

Mandzukic *may* be available due to them going for Lewandowski. I feel our options will be limited to Benzema, Benteke, Remy and Mandzukic. Linked with Moratta too. Costa may be worth trying for but if Lose wants him, he will get him.

Other than Moratta (about whom I don’t know enough), all the strikers will be significant improvements on Giroud. A striker with pace can make our team deadly on the counters unlike Giroud who looks dead. They are better finishers too.

Ballotelli is not so bad. He is getting older, and less childish every day. Benteke would be good to, cant be long until he is picked up by a bigger club. But i also doubt Wenger will be willing to pay what it costs to bring Cavani, Falcao or Costa to the club, so they are not realistic targets.

We also have Martinez from Porto whom seems to be on fire and is sure to get some suitors. He came in and filled the shoes of Hulk and Falcao before him scoring Even more goals than his predecessors. So maybe he could be a good target. He is also built abit like Giroud and is strong and good on his head. Difference is he scores goals by the buckets.

The “realistic” (because Costa will definitely go to Chelsea) and favoured options, IMO, are Falcao, Morata, Benzema, Mandzukic, Balotelli, Benteke or Remy. Personally, I don’t see why we wouldn’t take two of them. Falcao would likely be too pricey but if we stumped up 30m for Benzema/Mandzukic and £10m for Remy, we’d have a cracking strike force and a genuine chance for trophies. Personally, I’d say Morata would be a good investment for the future (but maybe not ready right now? I don’t know much about him) but I’d stay away from Benteke and Balotelli; the first isn’t good enough and had one good season and the second is just plain mental.

I’d love to see our attacking 4 next year line up as Cazorla, Ozil, Walcott, Benzema/Mandzukic (hopefully Benzema) with Remy and Giroud on the bench. As long as Walcott comes back at the same quality, we’d absolutely tear up the league.

Oh, and we need one more world class central defender because Vermaelen will (sadly) leave in the summer.

Not defending that guy’s comment, obviously Ozil cares. But ‘calibre’ has sweet f.a to do with criticism. They all deserve it if they’ve done something wrong. I think a lot of our fans think Ozil has been above it all season, even around xmas when he was poor..

Honestly, I can’t even believe there is a hint of debate over it. He laid his hand on his back, nothing more. If every player went down so easily the game would be as stop-start as American football.

Javi Martinez, or Busquets II, should be equally chastised with Robben for his play acting. I feel embarrassed to say I’m a football fan in light of that sort of bullshit. They should be punished by a blow befitting their reaction once the game has finished.

If this were the case they would still be picking bits of Martinez’ face off the Alianz’ pitch this time next week.

In my opinion, as an American, that game was nearly as stop-start as American Football…grade A fricken ridiculous if you ask me.

Admittidly, Bayern’s tactics are brilliant. If you are going to lose possesion on a tackle, a 50/50 challenge; if you can’t tackle the player and win the ball or win on a 50/50…and there’s any contact or the appearance of contact…

…FALL EARTHWARD AND EAT GRASS…

the ref will stop the momentum of the opponent on the attack or the counter attack by calling a fluffly little foul most of the time thereby killing the flow of your opponents play. That is why you can never get into a rhythm against them, because most of them are cheats and manipulators of the beautiful game turning it into a horrid stewing cauldron of refuse served up as proper football.

Interesting, I was going to give Robben’s diving a twat/10 or maybe a prick/10, and I know a lot of fellow readers would lean towards cunt/10, as well. But I can definitely appreciate your classic 9.9/10, of course.

Genuinely think if we hadn’t been arsefucked (excuse the language but for lack of a better word) by the ref in the first leg we wouldn’t have had to chase 2 goals in this leg, and I genuinely think we’re good enough to progress to the next round. Tough but we’ve got a good chance to win the FA Cup and we’re pretty securely in the champions league next season, much better chasing the title than chasing the top 4. We’ve progressed tremendously this season and hopes are high for the future.

I think we all appreciate such optimism, and I agree that there’s much to be happy about, but there’s still plenty left in this season to play for. You mentioned the FA Cup, but there’s no use in throwing away our chance at the league itself too. We also have to be careful to not get complacent, because top four is not quite yet a guarantee. As shit as Spurs are (and they really are pathetic), we have an extremely difficult run coming up and we can’t afford to be complacent. It hurts me to see talented guys like Ozil, Walcott and Wilshere out injured, but we have enough players to make up for it if we really get the best out of everyone. Ramsey, Ox, Cazorla, Rosicky, Giroud, Pod… there’s enough talent there to sneak in and grab that trophy before Chelski and Moron-inho get it.

Arsefucked by the ref is one way to look at it. Another is a missed pen in the first 15 minutes which if you take the butterfly effect into account, means odds are big man S wouldn’t have been sent off

I thought Vermaelen absolutely excellent. We all know that, when not diving, GOMC likes to cut inside on his left and shoot. How many times did he manage it last night? Vermaelen consistently showed him outside and, apart from his other main skill of diving, he was largely ineffective. Excellent performance particularly as he’s only a stand in left back.

fabianski was brilliant!
i remember the match he took a back pass with his hands and now look how far he is…
thats the magic of arsene and we fans have to believe in our team!
i live in germany and have lots of friends who are dortmund fans! thats what you do call fans! they back up their players and watch the game the whole 90 min even when they are 3-0 down!
I feel embaressed when I see fans leaving the emirates after 80 minutes

I don’t ever leave matches early, but the reason people do it at the Emirates is to not have to queue an hour for the tube. They do it every match – even if we’re winning or it’s tight. Don’t get me wrong, it does annoy me and I don’t understand how people can pay so much money to support their team and then piss off before the match is over, but it isn’t just people being fickle, there is a practical reason behind it (reason, not excuse).

Well, yes. 80 mins at the ground is better than 90+ mins at home or in the pub on TV.

I only go to 5-10 home games a season (and most of them category C and B), but because of that, I make a whole day of it, and stay in the ground as long as I can before stewards ask people to leave. Now it doesn’t matter as I live in Harringey and walk through Finsbury Park to the ground.

But people who are season ticket holders, and spend their stagnant wages on increasing ticket prices, and go to away games (I’ve only been to 5 away games in my life), etc. etc. are the core of the club’s live support. If they need to leave to avoid the crush (presumably to get back to families and friends who don’t see that much of them if they are home and away season ticket holders), then I’ve no real problem. It does hurt the atmosphere late in some games though.

Sign of the moderrn times in which we live I’m afraid! I used to attend a lot of games but don’t now because I got so fed up with so many ‘loyal supporters’ barging past others to get out and then standing right in front of people obstructing their view if something exciting happened. People try to do too much these days and just end up not enjoying or appreciiating anything. Sad but it’s part of our culture now e.g. when I was a kid and the Red Arrows were displaying, without exception everyone watched the whole display in absolute awe. Nowadays, kids will carry on playing footy or doing whatever on the beach without the slightest care in the world!

That back pass wasn’t entirely his fault. IIRC, Djouro or Squillaci knocked it back towards him while he was already running out of goal to attempt to sweep the ball and it just became a mess. If my memory is failing me, then sorry, carry on then. Nevertheless, he is much improved since when he first arrived.

So far I’ve only listened via Arsenal player, plan on watching the replay as soon as available. Sounded like he made a few great saves – he’s been fantastic every time he’s come on in the last 2 seasons. Too bad for us he’s most likely leaving. Really nice to have a 2nd keeper who can come on and not miss a beat.

Totally agree. I think the refs are just so used to it, they all just look at each other, shrug, and “Oh, there’s that Robben bloke, tripping over his own feet again. hahahaha.” Then some silent film piano ditty plays out til the freekick whistle is blown……

Harts on is someone who played for Arsenal many years ago for a brief time, having been bought by Graham as his last act in order to ensure no money was left in the kitty for his successor. He was really an immobile lump with very little skill. His subsequent illness and recovery were a great tribute to his toughness. But let’s not pretend he was ever any good or has any tremendous insight into the game worth listening to.

Robben is a cunt. Can’t fault the lads, played very well and put in tons of effort. Like Blogs said, valiant display but not enough unfortunately. I really really hope Ozil isn’t out for too long. We need him at some point before Death Run 2 ends.

Chin up Gooners. Lads gave it there all today cannot fault the heart or effort today. Games like these just expose our weaknesses alot more.

Giroud is a good player and i appreciate all the things he brings to the team…But we must spend big on a striker with pace that can change a game by himself. Giroud is the best and the worst of the team..When his combination play comes off we are unstoppable and have many highlight reel goals already this season. But his lack of pace hurts us big time, especially with no Theo. The amount of times our midfielders cannot play the ball in behind is astounding, and you notice this alot more in the big games.

Arteta is also a problem…The guy does absolutely nothing wrong and he is decent in his position but at the top level his limitations are extremely evident.

This Arsenal team proved tonight they are on the verge of something special, just need 2 or 3 more world class signings to take us to the next level.

I think you forgot to highlight on of our biggest problem this season, high pressing teams.

We got absolutely nowhere most of the time, and we’ve had this problem with alot of teams that apply the same tactic. Now Bayern is another monster then the other teams, they constantly have 6-7 on the side with the ball and successfully takes it back more times then not. We just have no answer to it bar Oxlade runs, but even he had no alternativs after he beat 3-4 players.

The entire season I’ve thought we had problems breaking down that first line of defence and rely to much on Giroud to take the ball down and hold it up against teams that set up their team for a high pressing defence. Compared to Bayern who always seems to have atleast two alternatives even when we pressed like mad.

Which is why Girouds lack of pace is even more evident against High pressing teams..Where you need the option of striker who can run in behind..This is not Girouds fault but Wengers for mot buying an alternative.

Overall, we were just to weak to win against Bayern.
But Per, Oxe & Poldi fought, especially on the 2nd half.
Per was so good in tacles and reading the game.
I do think that we also had a better 2nd half thanks to Tomy who gave a lot with his fighting spirit, his technic and his pace. Sure, it was not obvious, but hey, this is against Bayern.

Fabianski showed that he could easily be #1 in an other team playing the Champions league.

Giroud is a really good striker. But, in my opinion he’s just not good enough for that type of big game.

Giroud’s performance tonight was nothing short of pathetic! He never tried a leg, not ounce did I see him sprint to close down the opposition, he didn’t hold anything up, he didn’t flick anything on, he didn’t win any headers (apart from that tame header early on). How you gave him the 4.whatever is beyond me. His role is a target man, he hasn’t got it in his locker to be much else, and unfortunately for Arsenal, he hasn’t got the required heart to do that role in the right way. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not a bad player all in all, I mean….he’s better than Bendtner, but that aint saying much. Sanogo should have come on for him with 20mins to go. This man has shown his true ability in the last month or so, and it just isn’t good enough for a team wanting to win major trophies. This saddens me greatly!

Sanogo is injured..Its not Girouds fault Wenger refuses to buy a striker that has pace which would give us multiple options and vary our attack.

One thing you cannot question is Girouds Heart and effort..He was poor today i admit and he had me swearing at least 15 times but he would have been subbed…..If we had another striker -___-…Which we dont which is Wengers fault.

I dont know why Wenger has forgotten that one of your strikers has to have blistering pace and the abillity to create something on their own if your going to win these kind of games. Henry, Anelka, even Wrighty had teams built around their pace. Giroud should be Our number two striker…When you compare him to other clubs in europes top strikers it gets a little embarassing that he is our Best striker.

I like Serge Gnabry’s bravery with shots. He is more like Oxlade Chamberlin. but he needs to work on his accuracy. if he can sort that out we have a winner here. Will love to have a match with him and the Ox on opposite sides of the wings.

Giroud is such a waste. From henry, bergkamp to eduardo, the flying dutchcunt and adeba-whore we’ve come to strikers like giroud. No pace, awful first touch and finishing. All the goals he’s scored are either tap-ins or from within the 8 yard box.

“Thumping goal, even if he did get a bit of luck with the foul”
Foul? What foul? I didn’t see a foul. Did anyone else see a foul?
I saw some cunt in a red shirt fall over.
But a foul? No waaaaay dude. 😉

1) Fabianski was fabulous. Sad to have to lose such an excellent back up keeper but can fault him given his new found qualities.

2) Ox was a potent weapon which unsettled Bayern at times but not sufficiently supported. I thought chucking on Gnabry was the right thing but wish we had both Ox and Gnabry to work the pace on the Bayern defense in tandem, particularly for the last 10 minutes when I thought we should have really pushed up a gear and gone for broke.

3) Podolski gets big marks for grabbing the game by the balls, knocking over (the diving) Lahm and smashing in the goal from a tight corner.

4) The defense in general were good today across the back. OTOH, felt we were a bit (albeit understandably) too timid and invited them in too deep.

5) Giroud. He is a decent striker but one that needs to be supported. In such games, we are really lacking one player for this competition given the caliber we are facing.

We needed a striker who could add pace and operate on his own, provide a bit of trickery. With the team cautious in committing forward, it was all too easy for Bayern to isolate our front men rendering our attacks largely ineffectual.

I understand why Wenger was reluctant to dip into market in January. Some names bandied were cup tied and would have been useless for us in this instance. Nor were they of any better quality long term.

There will be a lot of movement come the summer with the world cup where most top end talents chose to hold off on moves (understandably) in Jan. Any of Manzukic, Costa, Falcao, Benzema will likely be moveable and would do for us. OTOH there will be others with deep pockets in the market as well so it won’t be easy. My pick is Benzema. he has the frame and pace we need and at 26 has his best years to come. Provides a lot of assists and is familiar with Ozil.

Until then though, perhaps a blessing in disguise to go out of the CL.

We have to re-focus on clawing the title pole position back (it will be very difficult but still plausible) and of course (whilst strictly consolation) we need to ensure we win the FA cup.

Unlucky gunners i really feel the team gave it stylishly to a strong bayern side, santi was gd cutting around mid defence & one touches so to was ox exciting skills with gd burst up & down the field bacary stood firm & was stretching wingers & gd defensive role pers solid performance gd headers out of area, kosc had to watch quick balls through middle frm bayern attack verminator was gd at marking arjen with pace 2, arteta gd closing down & passing poldi had to stretch abit to get back the ball but he scored glad goal was given, gnabry made pace with two shots at goal, fabianski was excellent with penalty save & shots from robbery haha, giroud was slow but had pressure from bayern ariel flamini came on late but was alert, tomas fast & pressured the bayern mid & defence gd one touches closing down & slide tackles gd, team played well coyg

Wow we are gonna miss Fabianski! This guy is a monster. Loved the penalty save. Muller was walking up to the ball wondering how he would celebrate not where he would pit the ball. I would like to see Robben get headfirst inserted into Muller. That might wipe that smug look off of Muller’s face!

Honestly, I felt like some of our players, especially Giroud, felt like bitching to the referee instead of getting on with the play, which was awful to see. It got much better after the goal, there was much more belief and purpose to our play.

Well played lads, didn’t go through but played your hearts out and went out with your heads held high. Next target is tha FA cup, let’s shut up those f****** critics about our 9 years, and get that back in our trophy cabinet

@Emeka I’m one who agrees with you on this. I’ve thought about getting JH for two years now. Whether in a single striker set-up with Giroud and JH coming on as a sub after 60′-70′ or paired up with OG12 in a dual striker set-up…or paired with PP9 or TW14.

Fab was good in the sticks…..the tactic of getting the ball out wide was evident….shame he can’t kick a ball to save his fucking life! How many times did he slice it out? Get someone on goal kicks if that’s the plan….fuck me beggers belief.Steven Hawkin could take better goal kicks. Seriously, what the actual fuck. Done it at least ten times an yet kept doing it!